Posts by Buzzbrad

Quote from Blackadder

1 hour ago, Blackadder said: I have to be forthcoming again, but there are too many things wrong with it to begin explaining it all. That's why I just linked the book, for it contains a lot of fundamentals you are currently missing.

-part taken out to save space-

Just tackle the book, it's a quick and pleasant read. Before I forget, for I can't hammer this enough, there is nothing wrong with you or your capabilities. The only thing you lack is practice and experience.

I am just starting out and definitely lack practice and experience. I appreciate you being honest with me and recommending that book. Now I will go read it and hopefully get a better understanding of the fundamentals.

Quote from ChA1NsAw

1 hour ago, ChA1NsAw said: It sucks. I know that's a blunt statement, but you'll learn faster that way, provided you can deal with criticism. You've already got the drive and imagination, which is probably the most important part. But now what you have to work on is a good taste and an understanding of fundamentals. Don't take it personally, everyone starts out as a newbie, and they all had to learn. I recommend reading The Hows and Whys of Level Design written by the top tier level designer Hourences. The book is now available for free: http://www.hourences.com/product/the-ho…level-design-2/ You will learn a lot; you will laugh at your previous work; you will realize that's a good thing.

I have actually heard of that book, and one of my teachers recommended it also. Now that it is free I will definitely read it.

Would you mind explaining why it sucks? Just so I know what I need to improve upon and so I can avoid making these mistakes again.

Hey Mapcore!

After creating my first CTF map in UT a while back, I wanted my next one to be more ambitious. My first map was much more conservative, and I wanted to really push myself and learn a lot with this one. This is the second time ever I am making a map, so I am still learning.

I thought I would share the progress on this map I have been working on, CTF Forest. (Generic name I know, :P, still a WIP) Currently I envision it as 10v10, possibly higher, possibly a bit lower. It is still in the greybox phase but feedback and criticism is more than welcome! Mostly I am still adding proper cover, and pickups such as health and weapons.

The story of the map is that a logging company has started taking over the forest from the native population. So I tried to make each side unique showing manufactured vs natural areas.

My initial bubble diagram for the map showing the areas and their connections

Engagement diagram showing where offensive and defensive spots would be. Along with a sniper position

This is the native spawn in the back and base in the front

This is the Logging Companies spawn in the back with the base in the front.

The cylinders represent trees, the eventual art pass will sell the forest look much more. I hope to have a .pak uploaded soon for testing! Any and all feedback is welcome

What is the ideal amount of players for the map? The map looks neat though, i'd love to test it when you get the packaging problem fixed.

No better time then the present to learn CS:GO mapping tools then. Can't wait to start!

I would love to see some of your design documentation. Maybe I am just missing it, but where are the spawn points?

Quote from 2d-chris

23 hours ago, 2d-chris said: I like the Zigzags, not easy to do!

Thanks Chris! Glad you like them.

The latest Hitman installment was great, I just think the episode structure hurt their sales. Hopefully everyone from the studio is alright.

Started a summer job at an indie video game studio. It has been going well so far and I am really enjoying it.

Quote from Bastion

8 hours ago, Bastion said: Heading off to my job interview in a minute, Spent the majority of my week preparing for it so let's see if my preparations will pay off!

Good luck!

Hello!

After reading your comments and some more articles about level design, I have updated my map. I tried to make the side lanes much more interesting, and also tried my best to eliminate very long sight lines. Along with adding some elevation changes and different angles. Please let me know what you think!

So as you can tell from the pictures I made various changes.

• changed the spawns from being at the side to now being in the middle with a ramp leading up to the battlefield
• changed the hallways drastically, they each have a unique design to them
• changed the catwalk so one side now requires wall running to get across
• added a dipped area to each teams first defensive room
• changed the flags to now be more open and in the centre of the room
• added an entrance from the catwalk into the flag room
• the one side wall now has large crack in the wall allowing for passage between the middle and the hall
• I redid the centre area so it is smaller and more confined
• changed some of the health/armor/weapon placements to better suit the new design
• the map now better suits 4v4 or 5v5 gameplay

I also built a playable .pak file which supports AI. Any testing would be greatly appreciated! https://goo.gl/wdduM8

Please let me know what you think, feedback is more then welcome. Hopefully the .pak file allows you all to try it.

Apparently Bioware Montreal is being downsized. Sad to hear since I really enjoyed the game.

Btw a new update just came out for this game: http://blog.bioware.com/2017/05/09/mas…tch-1-06-notes/

I am hoping this gets a slight discount in the summer sale, then I will pick it up.

I didn't realize this is the team that made Chronos. A great VR game. Definitely excited for this.

Quote from FMPONE

On 4/26/2017 at 1:10 AM, FMPONE said: Welcome!

Cool plans. Planning is great. How about some diagonal angles and elevation changes?

Quote from FrieChamp

On 4/26/2017 at 3:33 AM, FrieChamp said: Good start! Just to expand on what Shawn said, it looks like you are sticking a little too close to the abstract 2D layout in your greybox. Some of the connections look like reeeeally long, straight viewing distances which cause issues when people can shoot across 3/4 of the map with a sniper rifle of rocket launcher.

Quote from Robo_Platypus

On 4/27/2017 at 9:08 PM, Robo_Platypus said: Welcome!

Great progress so far, I really like the engagement map. That shows some real forethought about how players are going to flow through your level. I think you may have taken the engagement map a little too literally when you started planning out the details. Look at your map. Now try to find an angle that isn't a perfect ninety degrees! Don't take the distances between engagement points in the map to be literal, connections between engagement areas can be longer or shorter depending on how fast players flow through them. Unreal Tournament has a lot of complex rooms and hallways intersecting at odd angles, this allows advanced players to make skillful maneuvers. Great start so far, you'll be thankful for your detailed design documentation when you encounter problems later during playtesting! If you haven't seen this resource, check it out: http://bobbyross.com/library/mpleveldesign it's probably the best tutorial I've found so far.

When are you going to give us a playable .pak of the level? I'll happily test it if it's up!

Hey everyone, thanks for the amazing feedback. It is true that I took my diagrams very literal as you can tell. I definitely agree that the hallways along the side have very long sight lines and should be changed. The idea of using diagonals sounds like a really good idea, so I am going to change the side hallways to suit that. Along with adding some elevation to the middle area. I will keep you all posted!

Also Robo_Platypus, thanks for that link, I will definitely check it out. Once I make these changes I will post a playable .pak!

Hi everyone! I am a beginner level designer, just recently started learning actually. Through my research I found Unreal Tournament to be a good place to start so that is where I built my first level. There is currently no art, it is just a greybox. The level is roughly based on an area on my campus, so that is where the inspiration is from. It is built to be a 3v3 CTF map.

Here are my diagrams:

This is a map of the main floor and item locations

This is the map of the catwalk, which overlooks the main floor.

This is a diagram of how I envisioned the engagement throughout the map

After making these diagrams I then tried to create the level within Unreal Tournament. Here are the screenshots from the engine:

I would love for some feedback on my first level! Looking back at it, it does seem to be very simple but I learned a lot during the process. Though I am still open to any changes and would love to hear what you think.